Has BYU Done Right by Brandon Davies?

In this Jan. 5, 2011, file photo, BYU’s Brandon Davies shoots over UNLV’s Brice Massamba during an NCAA college basketball game in Las Vegas. BYU has suspended Davies for the rest of the season for violating the school’s honor code. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File)

Sometimes the world of sports tees up good LB topics even if the facts at hand don’t concern criminal offenses, civil suits or, for that matter, the court system at all.

Most of these situations involve someone (an umpire, referee or other official) applying a rule in a way that either seems overly draconian or, less frequently, too lenient. At issue in each case: how to apply a law to an individual set of facts. Often the question breaks down like this: Should a law or rule be applied formalistically, that is, rigidly (collateral costs be damned)? Or should the arbiter consider alternative applications of the rule so that an arguably fairer result is reached?

The situation confronting BYU basketball player Brandon Davies doesn’t square perfectly with these examples. But lots of people are wondering if BYU is doing the right thing by suspending him for the season for behavior that might seem perfectly normal in the vast majority of college settings.

The backstory goes like this: Davies, the third-leading scorer on one of the best BYU teams in history (prior to last night, the team was 27-2 and ranked third in the nation), was earlier this week suspended from the team for violating the BYU honor code.

Davies’s infraction: having consensual, premarital sex with his girlfriend. BYU’s honor code is one of the strictest in the nation, prohibiting alcohol, coffee or tobacco consumption; dishonesty; and, yes, premarital sex. Click here for the overview over at the Daily Fix.

Cue the debate: Did the school behave justly in kicking Davies off the team?

At the Salt Lake Tribune, two commentators see the issue differently. One, Kurt Kragthorpe, thinks justice was served. Everyone knows about the honor code, and commits to it, when deciding to attend BYU. BYU, owned and run by the Mormon Church, certainly has the right to discipline its students and athletes however it likes.

Further, writes Kragthorpe, in an era in which schools make every excuse in the book to keep their star athletes in the game, it’s refreshing to see a school hold an athlete accountable:

The Honor Code is part of what distinguishes BYU as a private, church-owned school. Davies’ dismissal is another reminder that whatever built-in advantages the Cougar athletic program enjoys in recruiting are balanced by the restrictions of campus life. BYU football player Harvey Unga was denied readmission to the school last spring, costing the Cougars’ all-time leading rusher his senior season.

That decision was admirable, considering what Unga meant to the team, and so is the treatment of Davies. There’s obviously no double standard in play for prominent athletes.

Playing the other side is Salt Lake Tribune writer Gordon Monson. In this piece, Monson argues that BYU should “offer an open hand, not a clenched fist” to Davies, who made a very human mistake. Writes Monson:

[S]tudents, including student-athletes, at BYU agree to live by the honor code . . . but . . . they remain, in fact, human, and are therefore subject to the frailties and failures of the human condition. Short of the most egregious cases, such as instances where a perpetrator is a predator among other students, the imperfect should be worked with and helped toward abiding by the code. They should not be expelled, or banished, or kicked off the basketball team for even a series of moral transgressions.

This path, continues Monson, is more in keeping with the teachings and practices of the LDS church:

If the code is based on honor and honesty, in the cases of marginal wandering or outright transgression, why not simply have students at BYU work with, and set up a redemptive plan with, their ecclesiastical leaders, whatever their faith. That’s what LDS church members everywhere else do, without the bolstered standard and extra layer of the honor-code office.

LBers, any thoughts? Is the school doing the right thing by suspending Davies? Is it applying its code justly — or would you prefer seeing a form of punishment that would enable Davies to keep playing?

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The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

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